Brush back roller

ABSTRACT

A conveyor system for supplying ears or corn to a processing machine includes a cleated elevator conveyor for the corn, and a double helix brush back rotor is disposed above the elevator conveyor for leveling the ears of corn on the conveyor as well as for laying down upwardly projecting ears from the sides of the conveyor towards the midplane thereof.

Sears et al.

Feb. 6, 1973 BRUSH BACK ROLLER Primary Examiner-Antonio F. Guida [75]lnventors: Bobby Joe Sears; Wade E. Brown, Atmmey F- Anderson et both ofHoopeston, Ill. 57 AB T A T [73] Assignee: FMC Corporation, San Jose,Calif. 1 S R C [22] Filed: Aug. 10, 1971 A conveyor system for supplyingears or corn to a processing machine includes a cleated elevator con-[211 Appl' 170536 veyor for the corn, and a double helix brush backrotor is disposed above the elevator conveyor for [52] "130/5 56/135198/33 AA leveling the ears of corn on the conveyor as well as for [5 lIlli- Cl. "A011 12/10 y g down p y p j g ears from the sides of [58]held of Search"']30/5 5 5 G; 198/33 AA; the conveyor towards themidplane thereof.

[ 5 References Cited 4 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS999,]28 7/191] Smith ..l30/5 R 2,619,967 l2/l952 Bond ..l3()/5 G O Q; asl H2.

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PATENTED FEB 6 I973 SHEET 10F 5 INVENTORS BOBBY JOE SEARS WADE E. BROWNBY ATTORNEYS PAIENIEB FEB 61973 SHEET 3 OF 5 PAIENIEUFEB s 1915 SHEET b[1F 5 l I I d m-MPH! BRUSH BACK ROLLER FIELD OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to material handling and more specifically to acombination of a cleated elevator conveyor and a double helical brushback auger disposed thereabove for distributing articles such as ears ofcorn on the elevator conveyor.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The double helical brush back auger ofthis invention is illustrated as applied to a self-metering distributionsystem of the type claimed in the copending application of Kuhn et al.Ser. No. 170,543, filed Aug. 10, 1971, as-. signed to the FMCCorporation.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART The U.S. Pat. to Greedy et al., No. 3,113,574,Dec. 10, 1963 shows an elevator conveyor having widely spaced cleats andwith a brush back rotor above the conveyor and formed of axiallyextending flexible flaps for leveling the product.

The U.S. Pat. to Krahn, No. 2,893,537, July 7, 1959 shows a crop pick upmechanism having a double helix auger for urging the crop toward acentral elevator conveyor. The anger is not contra-rotating but rotatesin the direction of pick up, and each helix terminates in axiallyextending flexible flaps that are substantially coextensive with thewidth of the take away conveyor.

The U.S. Pat. to Schaefer, No. 289,718, Dec. 4, 1883 shows a feedgovernor for cotton gins including a contra-rotating leveling augerformed of a double helix with the midplane ends of the helix comingtogether in a manner which forms a wedge shaped pocket. The helixspreads the cotton from the midplane of the underlying conveyor towardthe sides of the feed box.

The U.S. Fat. to Asper, No. 1,056,728, Mar. 18, 1913 shows a cleatedelevator conveyor for ears of corn with spring loaded brushes above andbelow the elevating flight for rolling cars into the pockets of theconveyor.

The U.S. Pat. to Bond, No. 2,619,967, Dec. 2, 1952 shows longitudinallyrotatable corn husker rolls with threesuperposed helical augers formoving the corn laterally across the husker.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the embodiment of the invention illustrated,ears of corn (such as sweet corn) are transferred from a main conveyorto a reserve area above feed rolls. The feed rolls deposit ears of cornhaphazardly onto the cleats of an ascending elevator conveyor. The brushback roller of the present invention is disposed above the elevatorconveyor, the cleats of the latter being' spaced just far enough toaccommodate the larger ears of corn in order that these can besingulated in rows for delivery to a corn cutter or the like. Thefunction of the brush back conveyor of the present invention is twofold.It performs the known function of devices of this type by leveling theproducts on the elevator conveyor so that ears of corn are notsuperposed on each other when they reach the corn cutter. However, dueto the relatively close spacing of the cleats of the elevator conveyorand the manner in which the mass of ears are fed thereto by thediverting system, ears sometimes are wedged or otherwise disposedbetween the cleats of the conveyor in a manner which causes them toproject or stand up radially from that conveyor. Such ears (having beenhusked) are subject to damage by prior type leveling devices or otherparts of the machine if they are-not gently layed down in the desiredmanner between the cleats of the elevator, and this is particularly trueof ears adjacent the sidewalls of the elevator, where pile ups are mostlikely to occur. The brush back roller of the present invention is inthe form of a contra-rotating, double helix auger, the lead of eachhelix being such that its action against upstanding ears is to lay theears down from the side walls of the elevator conveyor toward itsmidplane. The inner or midplane ends of the two opposite handed helicesare diametrically opposed and lie substantially in a common plane at theelevator conveyor midplane. With this construction, there are no wedgeshaped pockets or obstructions at the midplane which will catch anddamage the relatively delicate ears of corn being handled by themachine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan of a diverter systemembodying the brush back conveyor of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a central longitudinal section taken on line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2A is an enlarged section through one brush back helix.

FIG. 3 is a simplified plan of the system showing the flow of ears ofcorn therein.

FIG. 4 is a section like that of FIG. 2 showing the leveling operationof the brush back roller.

FIG. 5 is an operational view looking along 5-5 of FIG. 4 showing thelay-down action of one helix.

FIG. 5A is a plan view taken in the direction of arrows like FIG. 5 butlooking along 5A5A of FIG. 5.

FIGS. 6 and 6A are views like FIGS. 5 and 5A for the other helix.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION General Description of a System Embodying theInvention A diverter system 10 embodying the present invention (FIGS. 1and 2) includes a wide, horizontally running main conveyor belt 12,which is an endless belt having the usual drive and idler pulleys (notshown) at each end. Running transversely of the main belt 12 is anarrow, low profile diverter belt 14. The delivery end of the diverterbelt 14 is flanked by feed rollers 16 and an adjustable gate indicatedgenerally at 18 provides a delivery port having a width w for admittingthe ears of corn to the feed rollers 16 from the main belt 12. The earsof corn are delivered by the feed rollers 16 to an ascending reach of acleated take away conveyor indicated generally at 20. The double helixbrush back roller of the present invention, indicated generally at 22,is disposed above the conveyor 20 in order to level the mass of earsdeposited on the take away conveyor 20 to dispose the ears lengthwise inthe pockets 21 of that conveyor, as well as to knock down upstandingears.

The conveyor apparatus shown in the drawings is described in detail inthe aforesaid pending application of Kuhn et a1. Briefly, the parts aresupported on a framework illustrated generally at 24. The diverter belt14, which runs flat across the main belt 12, is trained around a drivepulley 30 mounted on a shaft 32 that runs in bearings supported inspaced brackets 34 (FIG. 1) mounted on the frame 24. The delivery end ofthe diverter belt 14 is trained around an idler pulley 37 looselymounted on a shaft 38, as described in the aforesaid application of Kuhnet al. The drive pulley 30 for the diverter belt has a drive sprocket 39on the shaft 32 (FIG. 1) and is driven by a chain 40 (FIG. 2) and asprocket for that chain on the shaft of a gearbox 42. The gearbox isconnected to an-electric motor 44. Thus, the speed of the diverter belt14 is independent of the speeds of the other elements of the system.

The feed rollers 16 are keyed to the same shaft 38 that loosely mountsthe delivery idler pulley 37 for the diverter belt. The rollers 16 havea diameter that slightly exceeds that of the diverter belt 14 at thepulley 37. The shaft 38 and hence the feed rollers 16 are rotated toprovide a peripheral speed somewhat higher than that of the diverterbelt 14. As seen in FIG. 1, a drive sprocket 56 is keyed to one end ofthe shaft 38 and a chain 58 is trained around the sprocket 56 and asprocket 60 driven by gear box 62 and an associated electric motor 64.The motor and gear box assembly are mounted on a sub frame 66 supportedfrom the main frame 24.

The adjustable gate 18 (FIGS. 1 and 3) cooperates with a fixed sideplate member 70 mounted on the main frame 24 to provide the opening wfor the admission of ears of corn to feed rolls 16 and on to the takeaway conveyor 20. The diverting action of the diverter belt 14 and thefeeding action of the feed rolls 16 are adjusted in accordance with thecapacity of the take away conveyor by making the gate 18 adjustable tocontrol the horizontal width w (FIG. 3). In the preferred constructionillustrated, the adjustable gate 18 comprises a plate 72 that isadjustably mounted to form a continuation of the upstream side plate 74for the main conveyor 12. The gate 18 is described in detail in theaforesaid pending application.

The take away conveyor 20 is provided to carry ears which are layinghorizontally in the pockets 21 up and away from the distributingconveyor system and deliver them to one side of a corn cutter or thelike not illustrated in the drawings. Apparatus which receives earsoriented in the cleats of a conveyor and presents them to cutting andorienting devices is shown, for example, in the US. Pat. to Ross et al.,No. 3,394,805, July 30,

I968, although the utility of the present invention is not limited touse of the patented apparatus.

The take away conveyor 20, the mounting and drive details of which arenot critical to the present invention, includes a pair of side chains 90having special links of known construction that mount transverselyextending cleats 92 to form the pockets 21. The cleats 92 are spacedlongitudinally of the conveyor by a distance sufficient to receivelarger ears of corn, but they are not spaced enough to receive twonormally developed ears. The chains 90 for the take away conveyor 20 aretrained over sprockets 94, 96 as seen in FIG. 2, and are driven by themachine with which they are associated in a manner not critical to thepresent invention and hence not illustrated. The conveyor runs betweenside plates 98 and 98a (FIG. 1) for constraining the ears of corn on theconveyor.

I As seen in FIG. 2, a guard plate 99 surrounds the lower loop of thetake away conveyor in order to prevent ears of corn that tumble downfrom the delivery rolls 16 from getting caught in lower parts of themachine or from falling out of the machine.

The brush back roller 22 of the present invention has flexible helicalflights 100,102 of opposite hand and disposed so that their rotationurges cars from the outside of the conveyor 20 towards its midplane. Thetubular hub 104 of the brush back roller is mounted on a shaft 106,supported on bearings 108 mounted on framework elements 110. The shaft106' mounts a sprocket 112 (FIG. 1) which is driven by a chain 114 and adrive sprocket 116 (FIG. 2) keyed to the roller shaft 38 previouslydescribed. The brush back roller 22 is rotated so that the helicalportions thereof adjacent the ascending flight of the take away conveyor20 move in a direction opposite to that of the conveyor flights 92, inother words, the brush back roller is contrarotating.

The helical augers 100,102 are of identical construction except thatthey are twisted around the hub 104 in leads of opposite hand. Stateddifferently, the helical flights 100,102 each have a lead along the hubrelative to their direction of rotation so that as the conveyor 20carries ears into the rolls, the edge portions of the helical flightsthat are engaged by upstanding ears progressively move in a directiontoward the midplane of the conveyor 20. Thus helices 100,102 urgeupstanding ears of corn away from the associated side plate 98 98a ofthe conveyor 20 toward the conveyor midplane indicated at a-a in FIG. 1.As seen in FIG. 2A wherein only the helix 102 is illustrated by way ofexample, an upstanding helical flange 120 is welded to the roller hub104. A strip of rubberized fabric 122 is bolted to the flange 120 bymeans of bolts 124 to provide a flexible helical periphery for theroller. The helix is of the same construction.

As seen in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, the midplane ends 100a,102a of the helices100,102 are diametrically opposed and these ends also lie or terminatein the midplane a-a of the take away conveyor 20.

In a typical installation for handling ears of com, the main belt 12will be about 20-30 inches wide and will run at about feet per minute.The diverter belt 14 will be about 2.0 inches wide and will be run atabout 120 feet per minute. The feed rollers 16 have a diameter of about7% inches and turn at about 88 RPM, giving a peripheral speed of thefeed rollers 16 of about feet per minute. The width of the take awayconveyor 20 will be about 20 inches and its speed about 39 feet perminute. The cleats are about 1.5 inches high and are spaced 3.0 inches.The brush back roller 22 will be about Il /4 inches in diameter and runat about 122 RPM. The hub 104 is about 3% inches in diameter and eachhelix 100,102 has a pitch of about 9.75 inches per revolution.

OPERATION The operation of the diverter associated with the roller ofthe present invention, when conveying ears of corn E to the take awayconveyor 20, for delivery to a corn processing machine or the like isillustrated dia-' grammatically in FIGS. 3 and 4. The lay-down operationof the roller 22 on the ears is illustrated in FIGS. 5 6A. Referring toFIGS. 3 and 4, as the ears E approach the diverter belt 14 they arepushed up over onto the surface of that belt and hence are urgedlaterally (to the right in FIG. 3,) towards the gate opening w. Theresultant lateral and longitudinal frictional forces on the ears bringthem through the gate opening w and into contact with the faster runningfeed rolls 16, and the latter removes the ears from the reserve supplythus formed and carry them to the pockets 21 formed by cleats 92 on thetake away conveyor 20. The take away conveyor can thus be operated sothat most of the cleat pockets 21 of the latter conveyor contain one ormore ears of corn E. In case the reserve supply is such as tooccasionally provide superposed ears on the take away conveyor cleats92, these ears will be gently brushed back by the flexible helical flaps122 of the helices 100,102 (FIG. 4).

In addition to the brush back or leveling function of the brush backroller 22 of the present invention, FIGS. 5, 5A and 6, 6A illustrate thelateral sweep or lay down action of the device. FIGS. 5 and 5A show howthe helical section 100 of the brush back roller urges ears of corn Ethat may be upstanding in the pockets 21 formed by the cleats 92 of thetake away conveyor 20 away from the associated side panel 98 of thelatter conveyor toward its midplane. Because of the coarse pitch of thehelix 100 and because of the manner in which the helix is twisted aroundthe hub 104, upstanding ears are gently pushed or nudged away from theassociated side plate 98 of the conveyor 20 toward its midplane therebyfacilitating entry of these ears in the pockets 21 formed by the cleats92 of the conveyor 20. This helps obtain maximum utilization ofavailable space in the take away conveyor 20.

FIG. 5, as noted on FIG. 4, is a view looking along the direction ofmotion of the ascending flight to the take away conveyor 20. Bars ofcorn E are being carried by the cleats 92 toward the brush back roller22 in this view and the helix 100 is constructed and rotated so that theedge thereof that engages the ears of corn is constantly moving to theright in that view, which is toward the midplane of the take awayconveyor. Thus, the ears that are substantially to the left of themidplane of the conveyor 20 will always be picked up by the edge of thehelix 100, which pushes or nudges them over towards the midplane. Thiscauses a pivoting action about the supports afforded by the cleats 92 ofthe take away conveyor and hence lays the ears down between thosecleats.

FIG. 5A also shows how the edge of helix 100 is constantly moving to theright in that figure, thus engaging upstanding ears E in the pockets 21between the cleats 92 in the conveyor 20 to urge them toward themidplane of that conveyor. It will also be noted in FIG. 5A that thisaction takes place before the hub 104 of the brush back roller 102 isengaged by the ears E as they are advanced upwardly by the take awayconveyor 20. Thus, FIG. 5A further shows how ears that would otherwisebe brushed back are deposited in pockets 21 of the take away conveyorwhereby the brush back roller 22 renders utilization of ears deliveredto the take away conveyor more efficient than otherwise.

A small percentage of ears may be upstanding exactly at the midplane ofthe brush back roller but due to the generally cylindrical shape of theears these cars will almost alwa s be engggled by one or the other ofthe ends 100,10 a of the e ices 100,102 in a flancmg manner that causethem to be urged toward a prone position on the take away conveyor.Relatively few cars will be (on a statistical basis) standing at thiszone, so that even though the lay-down action may not be as effective atthe midplane as toward the plates 98,99 of the take away conveyor, thoseears will not be caught in any wedge shaped formation created by the twohelices 100,102. This precludes damage to the ears by the helicalassembly which mode of operation is assured by the arrangement of theends a, 102a of the helices 100,102 so that they are diametricallyopposed in a common plane, namely the midplane of the apparatus.

FIGS. 6 and 6A illustrate diagrammatically the laydown action of thehelix 102 for ears that are disposed between the midplane of theapparatus and the side plate 98a of the take away conveyor. The actionhere is simply the reverse of that described in connection with FIGS. 5and 5A and hence will not be repeated in detail.

Thus, it can be seen that the brush back roller 22 of the presentinvention not only serves a leveling function but also prevents damageto the delicate ears of corn later along the apparatus by laying downupstanding ears. It also increases the efficiency of the apparatus byfinding pockets for cars that would otherwise be brushed back. Theflexible construction of the helixes 100,102 provides the combined brushback action without damage to the product.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the presentinvention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent thatmodification and variation may be made without departing from what isregarded to be the subject matter of the invention.

What we claim is:

1. A conveyor system for supplying ears of corn to a processing machine,said system including a cleated elevator conveyor having side walls,means to supply a lower portion of the conveyor with corn, and a contrarotating brush back rotor above said conveyor; the improvement whereinthe cleats on said conveyor are spaced so as to accommodate only singleears, said brush back rotor comprising two coaxial helices of oppositehand disposed to lay ears down from the elevator conveyor sidewallstoward its midplane, the inner ends of said helices being diametricallyopposed and lying substantially in a common plane at the elevatorconveyor midplane.

2. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein each rotor helix has arubber-like peripheral flange portion.

3. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein the lead of each helix isabout 10 inches per revolution.

4. The conveyor system of claim 3, whereby said brush back rotor has aperipheral speed of about 360 feet per minute.

1. A conveyor system for supplying ears of corn to a processing machine,said system including a cleated elevator conveyor having side walls,means to supply a lower portion of the conveyor with corn, and a contrarotating brush back rotor above said conveyor; the improvement whereinthe cleats on said conveyor are spaced so as to accommodate only singleears, said brush back rotor comprising two coaxial helices of oppositehand disposed to lay ears down from the elevator conveyor sidewallstoward its midplane, the inner ends of said helices being diametricallyopposed and lying substantially in a common plane at the elevatorconveyor midplane.
 1. A conveyor system for supplying ears of corn to aprocessing machine, said system including a cleated elevator conveyorhaving side walls, means to supply a lower portion of the conveyor withcorn, and a contra rotating brush back rotor above said conveyor; theimprovement wherein the cleats on said conveyor are spaced so as toaccommodate only single ears, said brush back rotor comprising twocoaxial helices of opposite hand disposed to lay ears down from theelevator conveyor sidewalls toward its midplane, the inner ends of saidhelices being diametrically opposed and lying substantially in a commonplane at the elevator conveyor midplane.
 2. The conveyor system of claim1, wherein each rotor helix has a rubber-like peripheral flange portion.3. The conveyor system of claim 1, wherein the lead of each helix isabout 10 inches per revolution.